T400: samsung LCD woes, help getting LG replacement?

Long story short, my t400 arrived with a samsung LCD. The colors were horrendous. No amount of playing with gamma, hue correction, saturation, contrast, or brightness could make red look like red.

Just to make sure it was the LCD, I plugged it into a high quality LCD monitor. Seeing them side by side really drove the point home: the red on the samsung display was orange-red and dim.

So I began the repair-drill. I called, got a case number, and they overnighted a box. The man I first spoke to said he could not influence the depot to put an LG display in the laptop. He said "Call the depot," and gave me the number.

Two days later I call the depot. After speaking to four different people and getting disconnected twice, the best I can get is a "I'll recommend an LG replacement but nothing's guaranteed. Try calling back tomorrow." The following day, when I called, it had already shipped.

Here it is, right in front of me WITH ANOTHER SAMSUNG LCD THAT ALSO LOOKS TERRIBLE. Identical part, identical problems. !@#$%.

Photo attached for reference. It's only side-by-side with a quality display that one can see how truly sh*tty the colors are. No settings help; I can only make it oranger or purpler.

I immediately called lenovo and am getting another box sent to me.

I've already lost a lot of time and patience... anyone who has had success getting them to swap in an LG LCD, what can I do to ensure it happens?

 

It's Lenovo's policy to use whatever part is available to make a repair on an RMAed machine. Unfortunately, it'll be luck of the draw. If you run a search on the Lenovo subforum, you'll find some success stories of people getting their displays replaced, but mostly, it's plain luck.

 

When you send it in, keep bugging and bothering them until they get an LG.

 

Are you serious? You're willing to send out your new machine in the mail repeated times and let strangers who don't give a rats to handle your new computer over that?

I don't think the color is that bad. Sure, it's a little off, but compared to what? It's hardly anything to cry about. Thinkpads were designed for real work, not for watching movies or doing photo work.

I'm getting a T400 soon and I really couldn't care less about the screen. As long as I can read text that's all I care about.

 

Valid. Considering the machines are not marketed for photo work (like the w700).

 

I had a t400 with LG led panel for a few weeks and I have to say that next to a proper monitor it looks like total rubbish as well. The Samsung on Asus g1 is much much better even though it is not as bright. Did you try calibrating the panel?

 

I would almost bet that you sent it in for nothing. Judging from the picture the laptop works perfectly. Going by that i bet that the repair center didnt even take the laptop apart. I dont think they would even attempt to repair a perfectly "working" LCD. Why would they put a brand new different display in just because the customer doesn't like the colors.

I have an LG display in my R61 and the colors and brightness have been great since ive owned it. It still works great most of the time but I am starting to get horizontal lines in the display. I wish I still had warranty so I could actually USE the service. Rather then send in a brand new laptop just because the you think colors look bad.

 

I'm pretty sure it isn't all that bad. A friend of mine has the Samsung panel in his T400 and the difference between his and my LG T400 isn't all that much.

What tool are you using for the screen configuration?

 

Not an Lenovo / IBM

I had an Samsung panel in my last notebook , it was super bright, but very little colour and contrast, and i was constantly adjusting the settings , had to adjust digital vibrance to 40+ , but it still was a pain.

I now have an LG/PHILIPS panel in my new notebook and i an 100% happy with it, never had to adjust the settings at all.

 

I'm getting a lot of unhelpful responses that essentially boil down to, "You're too picky."

I can see where one might think that.

Two things:
#1: I spent $1200 on this laptop. Sitting next to a $400 Toshiba it looks terrible. That is not okay. I have to look at this every day for at least 3 years (I spent $100 on a 3 year service plan).
#2: It's not so much that it looks bad as it ARBITRARILY looks bad. Getting a good monitor, especially from a vendor of high-quality products, shouldn't be a roll of the dice. If I could have spent $50 to get the good LCD, I would've. If I had known I'd have had this issue, I probably wouldn't have bought the laptop.

If this doesn't get resolved to my satisfaction and I can't return the laptop, I will feel cheated as long as I own it and turn people away from lenovo products. That's how I feel.

Update: I called the repair facility and escalated once. The man I spoke to said he will work on getting a guarantee that I'll receive an LG panel in replacement, and that he'll call me tomorrow.

 

You are too picky.

I have the Samsung LCD. It's not the best looking thing out there, but it's more than sufficient for word and internet use. Everything on the monitor is sharp; it's just the colors that seem a little off.

Pretty much everyone seems to be getting the Samsung panel now-a-days. Considering how neurotic you sound in your posts, I imagine you scoured the internet for info on Lenovo laptops before your purchase. If you were that concerned about screen quality, you should have gotten a laptop with a guaranteed prettier screen. I hope all of your effort pays off, but I honestly think you're using a sledgehammer to kill an ant.

In addition, giving a poor recommendation for Lenovo laptops because you got the same damn LCD screen that everyone else gets is just dumb. Just because the screen quality of your $400 laptop might be slightly better doesn't mean Lenovo laptops are a POS. They have a million other features which make them far superior to your average laptop. Your laptop worked perfectly upon arrival. If you knew the chances were high of getting the often complained about Samsung LCD, then you assumed that risk. If you did not know, then you still assumed that risk by not performing enough research. Deal with it.

 

The underlying problem here is not whether or not the OP is too picky. The problem lies with the purchasing process itself. This is all about ordering a product over the internet (that you have not actually seen) Vs. buying from a place like Best Buy or Office Depot where you can actually view the product firsthand before you buy. I ordered a T61 (see sig) and got real good bang for the buck as far as the CPU and OS is concerned, but I am dissatisfied with my LCD screen. I am not going to send it back to Lenovo, but will chalk it up to experience and not purchase a laptop again, that I have not actually seen and tested in person.

 

This is the epitome of a useless comment. You just wasted 10 minutes of your life to insult someone.

 

Yeah, a painful way to learn this lesson.

 

What is exactly is your use for the laptop that requires such perfect color presentation?

Because if you say it's for movies and photos...you got the wrong laptop. If your use is for general work and word processing etc...what's the big deal?

For you to badmouth Lenovo is not fair to them...you're the one who took the risk of getting the Samsung LCD.

 

well my new T400 with wxga+ LED panel shipped yesterday and it is a Samsung 42T0503 panel. I will report how it compares with my old t400 that had the LG LED panel. Unfortunately i dont have the LG one any more to take pictures side by side. I do have to say that I thought the LG panel was total rubbish, so I dont hold a bias for or against the Samsung.

You can order the wxga+ LED panels right now though purchasing contracts, and I was told that Samsung is the only panel they are using in new builds.

 

Yeah, what's the big deal... why do we even have to pay for all those colors when, let's say, 256 are enough for business work? Some could even live with monochrom displays!

There are two main interfaces between you and the notebook: the keyboard and the display. While everyone is upset when the keyboard flexes the slightest amount, anyone that criticizes the display quality is either too picky or using the wrong notebook type. BS!

Please accept that some displays just suck (objectively) and that the one posted here is definitely one of them. If you can live with that, ok, but don't expect others to think the same way.

 

how is the t400 not the right notebook for movies and photos
i thought the thinkpad t-series was supposed to be one of the best productivity notebooks in the world?

 

My T61's video playback quality (WSXGA+ 1680×1050) is inferior to that of my Compaq V6120us (1280 x 800 ). And yes, I've installed the latest drivers, tried all the latest codecs (DivX,Xvid, Quicktime for windows, ect ect). The higher resolution screen does not produce crisper images, it just enables you to see more characters within the same amount of space because the print is smaller. The Lenovo screen is however brighter, and better for doing word processing.

Edit: My T61 will do video conversions in 1/3rd the time of the V6120us, but the V6120us is quicker for surfing the internet and viewing E-mail.

 

It's actually the same thing everyone else was telling you. I just said it more bluntly and took a few more minutes to express my annoyance with your undeserved sense of entitlement and gross exaggeration of the "terrible" quality of the Samsung LCDs. In that sense, my comment probably was pretty useless to you.

As a previous poster noted, there is an inherent risk you take buying a laptop online as opposed to a B&M store. However, it's my opinion is that there's such a plethora of information on the internet about laptops, especially the T400/T500 series, that you should have known this might happen before your purchase. I fully understood before my purchase that I might get the Samsung LCD and the fact that Lenovo doesn't seem to be too fond of replacing LCDs. That did not stop me from buying the one of the highest rated laptops out there.

As for more constructive advice, someone just started a thread about a detailed comparison between the Samsung and LG LCDs. http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=379512

After weighing all the pros and cons (and doing some minor adjustments to gamma and brightness), he actually found the Samsung LCD to be the better panel. This is only the subjective view of one person, but his comparison is fairly detailed and his description of the Samsung LCD seems to be on par with my own opinions of it. Maybe this post will discourage you from spending more time searching for the elusive LG panel.